Another issue was the lack of film stock: none was produced in Russia, and the import was thus considered a luxury, to be conserved. So every actor was obliged to learn the basics of splicing, working in the chemical lab, and preparing props and sets (along with the standard training disciplines: boxing, acrobatics, horse-riding, car-driving, etc.). Besides, the Kuleshov group itself was eager to attract as little intervention from Goskino as possible.

The authorities had little trust in Kuleshov’s experiments, so the budget for his pictures was miserable. Particularly good at this were Vsevolod Pudovkin and Kuleshov’s wife Aleksandra Khokhlova (criticized by contemporaries for being “skinny and ugly,” today she is considered one of the icons of elegance). (They never even used the word “actors,” preferring to be called “models” instead.) Each situation was meant to summon up a specific movement, which should automatically put the spectator (not the actor) in the desired psychological state. Rather than working out a perfect empathy (the core of Russian theatrical acting and Stanislavsky’s Method), Kuleshov’s pupils had to memorize something like a catalogue of movements, and function like perfect acting machines. His aim was succinctness and expressiveness: each emotion, he thought, is linked to an exact corresponding movement. Yet one should remember that his group was first and foremost concentrated on acting. Kuleshov is known today as the founding father of Soviet montage. Likewise, aspiring to emulate the lucid simplicity of American acting, he came up with an entirely new acting style. However, the editing in Soviet avant-garde films turned out to be so rapid that in Europe and America it was termed “Russian montage”. Fast-paced editing was one of the main characteristics – so Kuleshov aimed for “American montage”. From then on his goal was to make a “Soviet American” picture. After carefully studying audiences in Moscow cinemas, he came to the conclusion that American films got the most enthusiastic reception. Goskino was eager to ridicule the American bourgeoisie, but Kuleshov had a specific interest in the United States. An American western (there is even a cowboy played by a very young Boris Barnet) transplanted to Russian soil inevitably turns into a comedy. He is captured by a gang (consisting of former aristocrats and other dropouts) who stage “the horrors of Bolsheviks” to ransack his pockets. West is the story of a clichéd simple – minded American (he is carrying a pair of star-spangled socks, and salutes them with the National Anthem each time he sees them) who travels to Russia. The title of the film is self-explanatory. That alone is reason enough to be in the Canon. West was the very first of them, released half a year before Kino-Eye and exactly one year and one day before Strike. 1924 was the year of the Big Bang: Dziga Vertov made Kino-Eye (Kino-glaz ), Sergei Eisenstein debuted with Strike (Stachka ), Grigori Kozintsev and Leonid Trauberg with The Adventures of Oktyabrina (Pokhozdeniya Oktyabriny ), Fridrikh Ermler with Scarlet Fever (Skarlatina ), Abram Room with his experimental shorts. For several years, various experimental studios (or rather “factories” and “groups,” as they preferred to call themselves) were building up energy and knowledge. 1924 marks the birth of the Soviet film avant-garde.

Soviet montage lack of film stock